Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Stocking Existing Pond

New User. Stumbled across site by accident and can't seem to get away from it. Great site. Iv'e learned alot already.Planning on subscribing and getting a couple of books(any suggestions welcomed). I had a 1 ac pond built in 2007. stocked it with advice from friends and have been very pleased.Its ben a great expierience.
I do have a question though. Bought 36 ac. property with a 10 ac. Pond July of 2010.Lake was built in 2006. previous owner's son put maybe 20 or 30 HBG in it the following year and thats it. seems over run with GSF.
My plan was to drain it down (it has a drain)and kill it and start over. Planning on LMB,BG,RES and FHM.
Budget is an issue (spent most of it on the property)All that being said my main question is can I restock it at the correct ratio but lower quantities with the understanding that I will have to wait longer to harvest fish? Thanks in advance. and any and all advice and or suggestions welcomed.

Welcome to the forum! Not surprised at what you are finding in your pond. Others here will weigh in but in my experience it seems that HBG offspring will regress back toward GSF which is one of their parents. I'm glad to see that you did not include HBG in your re-stocking plan. Your plan of LMB, BG, RES and FHM should work nicely. You could even throw in some Channel Cats if you are so inclined. Stick to the proper ratios and you should be fine. Best of luck to you. Oh, one more thing......if you do try to kill out the GSF and start over, make darn sure you get 'em all.....I've seen those things survive in puddles of water 2 inches deep.

Hmmm..
If we assume the previous owner's son stocked a maximum of 30 HBG in 07', and we follow the generally accepted theory that 90% of HBG are male, that would leave approx. 3 female HBG to overrun a 10 acre pond (with GSF nonetheless,) in the span of four years.

I will be the first to admit that, in the absence of a predator, HBG would do their best to occupy any and all available space. However, they are quite cannibalistic, and would consume some of their own offspring. In addition, more recent information would seem to suggest that F2's and F3's may obtain a nice size in their own right, not immediately retrograde. Something about the math doesn't work for me here.

I think there are some probable scenario's.

1) There were more than 30 HBG stocked.
2) They were GSF, not HBG.
3) There is another source of fish in this pond.

I only state this to make sure you realize what you're starting with, so you make the correct decisions for your goals.
Travism is right, HBG are not what you want for a balanced pond. How bad is the "overrun" situation? Could you post a pic of the GSF? Is there a creek, or other body of water feeding this pond?

You will probably want to establish your LMB first, in order to control your BG. Could you utilize the GSF as forage for them?

10 acres is a lot of pond to drain...

sprkplug,
The 30 or so HBG theory is soley based on a statement by the previous owner. seemed too ring true when I caught 52 in 45 minutes on a black beetle spin the first time I fished it. overun may be a stretch.Also caught a 1 lb. 2 oz HBG the same day.
Another reason I was kinda planning on drawing it down was to build a dock and add some structure and such, We plan on building a log cabin there in 2-4 years. so I'd like to wait until then so we can keep an I on iy better.
Sorry, No Pic's But everyone of the small one's I caught had all the feature s of A GSF looking at pictures from the Internet.
I'll be the first to admit everything Ive stated is coming from a rookie at all of this.
Thanks for responding. I'll take all advice I can get.

travism,
Thanks for the wecomeing.I'll definately keep that in mind if I go that route on the draw down.I,m on the fence about the CC. Just gonna see how I feel when I get closer to that time.

Okay, I think that adding the dock, and any structure, when you lower the water to eliminate unwanted fish makes good sense. I was more concerned that you had a source of GSF continually replenishing your pond via a creek, or drainage from another pond somewhere. I still feel that if the fish you speak of are, in fact, GSF, that not nearly enough time has passed for the HBG to retrograde that far, in those numbers.
By the way, a 1 pound HBG is a nice fish! Congrats!

Did the previous owner live near the pond? Sometimes, well-meaning neighbors and friends will "help" stock a pond with fish from another source, or BOW. An unoccupied pond can be an invitation to everyone who knows it's there, and it just takes one angler emptying his minnow bucket to introduce an unwanted species.

sprkplug,
The previous owner did not live there.I dont think that there is any fish getting in via run off. But it is possible. I think the well-meaning friends and neighbors is highly likely though. Thats why I want to wait until we move out there. Thanks

sprkplug,
How would one determine if fish were getting in via run off?
there is no creek above the pond.

Just take a look at the watershed for the pond and locate the nearest body of water, be it a creek, river, pond, whatever.
What you're looking for is the possibility of fish migrating from there to your pond during a high water event, which seems to occur a lot lately here in Indiana.

Over the past 7 years, in addition to normal Spring flooding, my part of the state has experienced 2 so-called 100 year floods, and 1, 500 year flood.

That last one did a nice job of stocking the dugouts at the local ball field, with common river carp.

I Here ya on the "High water events" lately.

I guess if I find such a thing there's not much you can do to prevent it from happening.

Any thoughts on the stocking in ratio but lower quantity's.

Also since I'm so new to this forum(or any for that mater) am I suppose to ask the question in another Topic catagory or does someone else place it?

Thans again for your input.

While there are categories that deal specifically with stocking fish, I can't imagine that anyone will object to you asking it right here. As you become acquainted with the forum, you will probably notice that some threads meander around like a old creek. Eventually that water finds it's way to the river, but it may take a round-about way to get there.

IMO, stocking at a reduced rate while maintaining the prescribed ratio is not a bad thing in itself. I think the downside involves the size of your BOW. Fish intended for forage need to be accessible to the predators they are intended to feed. If there are too few forage fish, then the predator species, even if their numbers are proportionate to the forage, may have a hard time locating them.

Also, what size are most of the GSF? They may do a number on the FHM that you want to feed your LMB. Of course, this becomes a non-issue if you kill off the pond and start over first.

My personal observations here lead me to believe that a pond that produces big Bass, and quantities of big Bluegill, is the Holy Grail of many budding pondmeisters. It is do-able, but it's not easy. As a BG enthusiast, I live in fear of, and temper most of my replies in regards too, the dreaded "S" word. Stunting. As in many, many small BG.

I was always taught to stock your BG first, let them become established, then introduce LMB into the mix. My time spent here has introduced me to several people vastly more knowledgeable than myself, and one idea that I've seen put forth several times involves stocking LMB before BG, to make sure the Bass are ready to hammer the BG right from their introduction. I know your geographic location plays a part in this, but I'm not sure how far North you have to be before it comes into play. Hopefully, someone who knows will speak up. The forum has been very quiet the last couple of days.

I hope someone's looking over my shoulder, in case I steer someone in the wrong direction... It's one thing to take the controls while the pilot goes to the bathroom, but you hope he comes back before it's time to land the plane.....

Sparkplug, I've heard that is true for northern ponds, but I'll have more concrete evidence in a couple of years. The pond owner stocked the pond light in #s of BG, and is letting them spawn and multiply before adding LMB. The BG went in last Fall, at roughly 20% of the stocking rate. They are 4" now (this Spring), so maybe they will pull off a couple of spawns this year. The LMB will go in next Spring at 50% stocking rate, then the other 50% in the Fall, hoping to diverisify the genetics, and to get 2 year classes of LMB in the pond.

I'm looking forward to the results, esshup. That sounds like it could work. Pretty interesting experiment.

sprkplug
Thanks for the direction on the site workings.

My general train of thought has been to kill it, add my structure stock my FHM in large quantities with BG and RES in the fall and then the LMB in the spring. "MAYBE?" a few CC.seems to be protocal on here anyway.With all this not happening for at least 2 years I've got plenty of time to tweek my plan.

Location wise the pond is about 20 miles north of louisville Ky.as you said I dont know if thats north or south or somewhere in the middle.

Definately woluldn't want you to crash the plane LOL.

Thanks again.

esshup
I'll for sure be keeping an I out for those results.That sounds very interesting
Any thoughts on my above posts would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks